José-David Padilla, OP, STL, SThD, MA

Assistant Professor of Theology, New TestamentDirector, Master of Arts in Practical Theology and Ministryjpadilla@barry.edu

Profile

José-David Padilla, a member of the Order of Preachers, was born and raised in the city of Medellin, Colombia, where he received his BA in Philosophy from the Bolivarian Pontifical University. Padilla received the MA and the MDiv from the Aquinas Institute of Theology. In 2003 he worked at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, Miami for two years. In 2005, he was assigned to New Orleans where he worked at St. Thomas More Parish and as director of the Catholic Center at Tulane University. .

He studied Hebrew and Greek at the Biblicum of Rome. Then, he completed his License Degree (STL) in Sacred Scriptures at the Catholic Institute of Paris. During this time, he also had the opportunity to explore biblical geography and archeology at the École Biblique of Jerusalem. He moved to Salamanca, Spain, where he completed his Doctorate (SThD) at the Pontifical School of Theology of San Esteban of Salamanca, Spain.

Padilla has focused his studies in the historical, social and cultural milieu of the first fifty years of Christianity and the figure of Paul. As for Pauline Literature, his interest is in the New Rhetoric, specifically the social-rhetorical approach to the undisputed letters. He is currently a member of the Academic of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the United States (ACHTUS), the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), the Catholic Biblical Association of America (CBA), and the Institute for Biblical Research (IBR). He actively offers conferences nationwide on different topics concerning the New Testament, especially to the Hispanic communities.

Research Interests

- A Socio- rhetorical approach to controversial passages in the Pauline literature.- The use of moral codes of vices and virtues in the New Testament. - A Latino/a approach to Pauline literature and their understanding of identity - The mention of homosexual acts in the New Testament.